Improved device for heating ores for smelting-furnaces



A. ROGER. DEVICE FOR HEATING ORES FOR SMELTING FURNACES.

No. 38,419. Patented May 5, 1863.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED ROYER, OF-REEDS MILLS, onro.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,419, dated May 5, 1863.

To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED RoYER, of

Reeds Mills, Vinton county, Ohio, have inreason of the unequal contact of the flames with the ore. To remedy these defects, I have provided a peculiar grate, adapted to withstand the intense heat for an indefiniteperiod,

and to present the ore uniformly in' contactwith theheated efliuvia of the tunnel-head.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of my improvement. Fig. 2 is a transverse section thereof.

A represents the tunnel-head of a smeltingfurnace.

B B is the flue, surmounted by a pair of cylindrical boilers, 0Q, for operating the blast, et cetera.

. My arrangements for preheating the ora consists as follows.

'D is a swinging grate whose end bars, d,and cross-bars d consist of .hollow tubes for holding water. The arrangement of this grate is such that in its upper position (see Fig. 1) it is adapted to receive and hold the ore in an extended form, so as 'to intercept the hottest portion of the flame,while in its depressed position (see Fig. 2) it is adapted to discharge the heated ore into the furnace.

E E are hollow trunnions, by which the grate is hinged to the flue sides, and through which it is charged with water.

F is a cold-water. tank having .a pipe, G, which conductswater into the grate D. -Partitions (see dotted lines H) compel the water to meander through the entire series of bars until it issues through the trunnion E into a pipe, I, which may convey it back to the tank F, crt'o-a feed'tank for the boilers, or may discharge it. A forced circulation of water may be secured by a Giffards injector, J, or by a force-pump, or ahydrostatic column.

In order to enable the elevation and dedression of the grate without disconnecting the water-supply, the pipes G and I are connected to the trunnions by flexible joints KK.

L is a counter-balance, which slightly outweighs the unloaded grate, so as to return it automatically to its upper position when relieved of its load of ore.

M is a self-acting catch, which retains the grate to its upper position on its return from unloading.

F is a hopper through which the ore is fed onto the grate. The ore may be dumped or discharged into the hopper N from an ordinary corf or truck run out upon an elevated tramway.

O is a hopper by which the coal and flux are fed to the tunnel-head.

P is a chute to carry into the tunnel-head whatever fragments of ore drop through the grate.

For a customary furnace,I have adopted the following proportions: I make the grate six and one-half feet long and four and one-half feet wide. The end bars are two and one-half inches square. The cross-bars are two and one-half inches wide on top, one and one-half inch wide at bottom, and two inches deep. In some cases,however, a somewhat greater depth than the above. may be found advisable. The

intervals between the cross-bars are one inch,

the object being tohave them as wide as possible, so as to afford, as far as practicable, an unobstructed passage of the flame through every part of the charge of ore. The ore, broken to about egg size, is deposited upon the grate in quantities of from nine hundred to twelve hundred pounds, and having remained on the grate from twenty-five to thirty minutes, becomes red-hot and throws off most of its sulphur, phosphorus, and other volatile impurities. ,The charge of coal and limestone being then thrown in, the catch M is withdrawn and the grate, now descending, dis charges its load of heated ore into the tunnelhead,when, being overbalanced by the weight L, itv returns automatically to its upper position for another charge.

The form selected to illustrate my invention is not necessarily the only one that may be en1ployed,.as various modifications will readily suggest themselves. For example, gndgeons may extend from the free end or bar of the grate through slots in the boiler-furnace concentric with the trnnnions, and, rods being attached thereto, the grate may be elevated by a lever, thus dispensing with a counter-balance; or two self-acting catches may engage said gudgeons and be simultaneously released by operating a single lever connected with both.

I claim herein as new and of my invention The grate D, adapted to present the ore in an open condition to the flame of the tunnellread and to discharge the heated ore,the said grate being preserved from destruction by a current of water traversing its interior, the whole being combined and operated substantially as set forth.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

ALFRED ROYER. Witnesses:

GEO. H. KNIGHT, WILLIAM STANTON. 

